Comins Tea – Soo Soo Choi’s Korean Black Tea
Today is the ninth day of Lunar New Year celebrations and it’s the birthday of the Jade Emperor, Yù Huáng (玉皇) a god known as “the Heavenly Grandfather”. In Korea, he is called Haneullim (하늘님) and I’m celebrating today with Soo Soo Choi’s Korean Black Tea from Comins Tea.
This tea is grown in the Boseong region of South Korea. It is a gorgeously rich and fruity-tasting blend, which has depths of dark, luxurious, almost spicy flavours. It is a bit like drinking a Dundee cake in tea form.
The dried tea leaves are so long and twisty that they resemble letters of the alphabet. You could spell words with them while you’re waiting for your tea to brew. (It would help if those words contained a lot of u’s, c’s and s’s, mind you.)
The owners of Comins Tea, Michelle and Rob Comins wrote a book called Tales of the Tea Trade which I’ve mentioned before. In it Soo Soo Choi, herself, reflects on what makes a great tea:
“Each of us all have our own private history, a weight of life context and drama. So when we make tea we already know in our hearts that our personal best may not suit others. Each person has their own preference for tea. That is personal history.”
I really like the notion that one brings one’s own backstory into every tea drinking experience. All the things that have happened to me in the last 47 years have clearly brought me to a place where I really, really enjoyed drinking Comins Soo Soo Choi’s Korean Black Tea. It was absolutely delicious.
Today’s featured book is The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, a novel set on the island of Jeju in South Korea.
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